Door stop for laterally movable doors



1970' B. J. UFHOFF 3,534,431

DOOR STOP FOR LATERALLY MOVABLE DOORS Filed May 21, 1969 I NVEN'TOR.

/z Jag 4a a m United States Patent 3,534,431 DOOR STOP FOR LATERALLYMOVABLE DOORS Billie J. Uphotf, Morton, Ill., assignor to MortonBuildings, Inc., Morton, 11]., a corporation of Illinois Filed May 21,1969, Ser. No. 826,368 Int. Cl. Ef 5/02 US. CI. 16-82 6 Claims ABSTRACTOF THE DISCLOSURE A door stop for laterally movable doors, highlydesirable for use in pole buildings, including a base member forattachment at floor level to a part of the building and a pair of spacedbars having downwardly extending end portions secured to said basemember, whereby said bars are spaced above said base member such thatthey will not accumulate dirt, debris, ice, etc. and can be safelydriven over by a rubber-tired vehicle.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (1) Field of the invention: This inventionrelates to the art of door stops, and more particularly to a stop highlydesirable for use as a center stop positioned centrally at the bottom ofa door opening which is usually closed by a pair of laterally movabledoors suspended from suitable trolleys riding on a track disposed on thebuilding above the door opening. The stop functions to preventovermoving a door toward closed position and also to align the doorswith the edges thereof at the proper degree of adjacency and in the sameplane with each other.

(2) Description of the prior art: In the past, door stops for thegeneral purpose of the instant invention have usually beenchannel-shaped members with solid side walls, with or without atransverse center partition, and when so constructed, these door stopswould accumulate dirt, debris, snow and ice, and in some cases the stopwould become plugged with debris or ice, and prevent the doors fromproperly closing. In other instances, even though the doors were closed,rain or snow seeping through the crack at the junction of the doorscould collect in the stop and freeze the doors in closed position makingit extremely diflicult to open them. In addition, such heretofore knowndoor stops, in every instance of which I am aware, could not effectivelybe utilized as a center stop mounted on a post terminating at floorlevel because of the danger of ruining a tire if a rubber-tired vehiclewere driven over the stop.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The instant invention overcomes thedisadvantages of the prior art discussed above, in the provision of adoor stop constructed for firm positioning to the top of a post embeddedin the ground and terminating at ground or fioor level and furtherconstructed so that the door stop will not retain dirt and debris to anobjectionable extent, nor retain water to an extent that the doors willbe frozen fast to the stop or each other. In addition, the invention issimple in construction, economical, and arranged that a rubber-tiredvehicle may be driven directly over the stop without injury to thetires.

Other advantages of the instant invention will become apparent from thedisclosures hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspectiveview of a farm, storage, or utility building of the pole type with adoor stop embodying the principles of this invention operativelyassociated therewith;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the door stop ice itself withthe relation of the doors therewith indicated in dotted lines; and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary reduced plan sectional view taken substantiallyas indicated by the line III-III of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In FIG. 1, by way of example, Ihave shown a farm building 1 which is provided with a pair of laterallymovable doors 2 and 3 shown in closed position over a door opening inthe building. These doors are suspended from pulleys which ride a track4 mounted on the building above the door opening, in a known manner. Thebuilding is of the type comonly referred to as a pole building since thefoundation of the building is a number of vertical posts anchored inconcrete and embedded in the ground, such as post 5, the poststerminating at the top at ground or floor level. The door stop embodiedin this invention, generally indicated by numeral 6, as seen in FIG. 1,is mounted on the top of a post centrally disposed with regard to thedoor opening in the building.

With reference now to FIGS. 2 and 3, it will be seen that the door stopincludes a base member 7 in the form of an inverted U which may readilybe disposed on top of the post 5 and which is sized so that the legs ofthe U will extend downwardly on opposed sides of the post while theinterconnecting portion extends across the top of the post. The legs ofthe post are each provided with a plurality of apertures 8 through whichthe base is secured to the post with nails, screws, or the equivalent.Identical metal bars 9-9 extend over the base plate 7 and are disposedthereabove with their end portions 1010 turned downwardly and welded tothe legs of the U-shaped base plate. These rods have a curvate bend atthe connection between the end portions and the cross bars 9 and arepreferably round in cross section with a diameter of approximately /2".It is a simple expedient to shape the bars from a piece of rod stock.The bars 9--9 are spaced apart sufficiently to accommodate the lowercorners of the doors 2 and 3 therebetween, as indicated in FIGS. 2 and3.

-A bumper 12 is disposed transversely to the path of the doors in themedian plane between the bars 9-9. This bumper is welded to the base 7and to each of the bars 9. It should be noted that the bumper terminatesat approximately half the diameter of each bar below the top of the bar.The bumper, of course, prevents movement of either door 2 or 3 beyondits correct position for closing half the door opening in the building.

From the above description, it will be noted that the door stop is soconstructed that it will not in any manner damage an inflated tiredriven over it. The bars 99 are smooth, round in cross section, and haveno sharp corners, and the bumper 12 does not project as high as the barsdo. The door stop projects a total of less than 2%" above the top of thepost to which it is secured. Thus, an inflated tire may pass directlyover the door stop, and the entrance into or exit from the building 1 offarm vehicles, for example, some of which may be heavily loaded, is notconfined to a path on either side of the door stop. Further, the doorstop is open at the sides and ends so that dirt and debris will notaccumulate and set therein to an objectionable degree, and there is nochance for ice to freeze within the door stop and lock the doorsaccordingly. Consequently, the door stop may be utilized to facilitateproper closing of the doors in locations where formerly no door stop wasused. In addition, the door stop is simple in construction, simple toattach in position, and long-lived.

Although various minor modifications might be suggested by those versedin the art, it should be understood that I wish to embody'within thescope of the patent granted hereon all such modifications as reasonablyand properly come within the scope of my contribution to the art.

I claim as my invention:

1. A door stop for laterally movable doors, including a base member forattachment at floor level to a part of a building,

a pair of spaced bars having downwardly extending end portions securedto said base member whereby said bars are spaced above said base member,and

the space between said bars and base member being open to eliminate anaccumulation of debris within the door stop.

2. The door stop of claim 1, wherein said base member has the shape ofan inverted U to embrace the top of a post terminating at floor level.

3. The door stop of claim 1, wherein said bars are round and shaped withrounded curves where the end portions are downwardly turned.

4. The door stop of claim 1, including an upstanding bumper platedisposed transversely to the path of the doors and centrally disposed onsaid base member between said bars. 5. The door stop of claim 4, whereinsaid bumper plate terminates at the top edge below the tops of saidbars. 6. The door stop of claim 5, wherein said bumper plate is securedto both said base member and the lower portion of said bars.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 476,373 6/1892 Eastman 16-871,269,133 6/1918 Townsend 49409 XR 2,865,043 12/1959 COX 1 -90 BOBBY R.GAY, Primary Examiner P. A. ASCHENBRENNERQAssistant Examiner US. Cl.X.R. 49410

